Namibia’s senior cricket team won the first of the three One Day International (ODI) matches by 65 runs against visiting Hong Kong at the Trustco United Cricket Grounds on Sunday.

Hong Kong won the toss and elected to field first and Namibia took advantage of the field which seemed to suit the batters to register an imposing score of 332 runs for five wickets in the 50 overs (332/5).

Namibian batters used the advantage to score runs with openers Lo-Handré Louwrens and Zane Green scoring 54 runs off 74 balls and 46 off 56 respectively.

Michael van Lingen added eight runs from five balls, while captain Gerhard Erasmus scored 53 off 54.

The middle-order then piled on the pressure with Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton hitting 74 off 60 and Johannes Smit contributing 62 from 39 balls not out to see out the game with Ruben Trumpelmann on 23 runs after nine balls in 50 overs.

Hong Kong’s response started slowly with the opening pair of Nizakat Khan and Ehsan Khan failing to deal with Namibia’s fast bowlers as the latter scored just a single from 15 deliveries.

Nizakat Khan scored 79 from 100 balls, while Yasim Murtaza contributed 72 from 55 balls.

For the Eagles, Trumpelmann was the pick of the bowlers with four wickets from 10 overs giving away 31 runs (10/4/31), with Smit chipping in with 9/2/31.

Erasmus praised his team for playing well, especially the batsmen.

“This is a great outing for us and we just need to be consistent. We are getting there and we are looking to gather our form on this version of the game as opposed to the 20 over game. The 50 over game is the one where we have been lacking so we must build momentum,” he said.

Smit was named man of the match for his performance with both the bat and the ball.

The two teams will meet again on Thursday at the same venue for the second match of the series.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency